Common Medicines can Cause Depression | Research Says

Have you ever been through periods of sadness? We all had been through such phases. We all go through phases where we feel utterly disappointed, sad, depressed and frustrated for no actual reason. But, the real question comes, what if this period of sadness gets so prolonged that you find yourself almost incapable to handle it. What if it starts affecting your day to day life and routine? Well, then if a person goes through such a state then most probably than not, such a person is going through a depressed state. Because such symptoms are part of depression.

Symptoms of Depression

Depression can hit anyone and the symptoms may vary. It isn’t necessary that a depression has always some reason behind. However, some of the symptoms with which we can diagnose that a person is afflicted with depression are as follows:

Sleeping disorder

Eating disorder

Consistently having negative thoughts.

Always having the feelings of worthlessness or helplessness

Lacking interest in all the life activities

Weeping over issues which you wouldn’t have bothered to notice in normal circumstances

Going through anxiety and restlessness

Finding difficulty in decision making and concentrating

These are some of the symptoms mentioned.

The link between different Medicines and the Depression

Many people when are encountered with any sort of health illness, they opt for medicines without considering the fact about the side effects which these medicines can cause.

More often than not people take medications or pills for their allergies or for controlling their anxiety, others take medications for maintaining blood pressure or reducing somebody pain, others take medicines for some other illnesses. What people don’t acknowledge before taking a prescribed medicine is that all these pills that people take with the hope of curing their other illness can actually make them vulnerable to depression.

A study of JAMA shows that people who take medications where depression is mentioned as a side effect are actually at the risk of encountering depression.

The risk of getting depression was higher in people who took medications with depression as a side effect as compared to those who took medications which were void of depression as a side effect. There was only 5% of the risk for such people to get vulnerable to depression who took medications with no side effect of depression.

The more a person takes pills with depression as a side effect, the more that person becomes vulnerable. With one medication, a person has 7% chances of getting depressed. With two, the chances increase to 9.5%. With three medications, the chances of getting depressed increases to 15%.

The same analysis was done on medications which had suicidal thoughts as a side effect. The result showed that one pill can increase the chances of having suicidal thoughts with 8%. Two pills can increase it to 12%. Three can accelerate the rate to 18%.

The third analysis was done on people who took anti-depressants. The result showed that one pill which had a side effect of depression can result in 14%. Taking two pills can result in 18% and taking three pills can result in 27.5%. More than three medications with depression as a side result can result in 28% of being at risk for depression.

Medicines with Depression as a Side-Effect

Medicines which have depression as a side effect are as follows:

The medications which are taken for acid reflux:

omeprazole, esomeprazole, ranitidine, and famotidine

2. The medications which are taken for treating allergy:

montelukast and cetirizine

3. The medications which are taken for treating anxiety;

alprazolam, diazepam, and lorazepam

4. The medications which are taken for treating blood pressure:

atenolol, metoprolol, enalapril, and quinapril

Conclusion

So next time, whenever you take some medicines which your doctor prescribe to you, make sure that you discuss the possible side effects with your doctor as well.